Author: Jim Leen
Tuesday, 12 September 2000 - 08:44 am |        |
Hello Everybody,
The Long View programme on Radio 4 at 21.30 GMT tonight details W Stead whose efforts, in 1885, to expose child prostitution earned him a three month jail sentence.
This is because he bought a girl for £5 in order to show the British public that such inhumane conditions existed in the capital.
The show may help to portray the various portals of Victorian London so may be worthwhile listening to.
Also, I believe Stead to be a friend of RDO Stephenson, so some Ripper material may be brought up.
For overseas listeners it may be broadcast on the BBC World Service.
Jim Leen |
Author: Peter R.A. Birchwood
Tuesday, 12 September 2000 - 10:18 am | |
Or indeed through the BBC website.
Peter |
Author: Stephen P. Ryder
Tuesday, 12 September 2000 - 03:36 pm | |
The programme can be heard via BBC live-broadcast at the following URL:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/realplayer/media/fmv5.ram
Should start around 5.30pm Eastern time tonight (i.e. two hours from now). |
Author: Jeff Bloomfield
Monday, 12 February 2001 - 10:10 pm | |
Stead was also, as editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, a strong believer in the power of the
press to effect both public opinion and
government action. In the middle of the 1880s
(besides his tangle with the law regarding
child prostitution), he championed a Mrs. Langworthy in her fight for her property rights
against an unscrupulous husband. Eventually the
lady did win in the law courts, though it was a
long and savage fight for justice. He also was
the journalist who championed Israel Lipski, the
Polish - Jewish homicide defendant, in the 1887
murder case. Stead insisted that the trial was
not fairly tried, and brought the Home Secretary
and the judge involved (our old friend Henry
Matthews and Justice Sir James Fitzjames Stephen -
later Mrs. Maybrick's judge, and father of
James Kenneth Stephen) to almost advise reducing
the sentence. Then Lipski confessed.
After the Lipski fiasco, Stephen stopped getting
involved in interfering in judicial practice. He
had an unscrupulous moralistic streak, so that
(although a political Liberal) he frequently joined in destroying the careers of people who
were apparently morally corrupt (Sir Charles Dilke, Charles Steward Parnell, and Oscar Wilde).
In the 1890s he became editor of The Review of
Reviews, and became more outspoken about his
belief in spiritualism (a belief that brought him
close to R. Stephenson D'Onston, who wrote for his
papers). In 1912, he decided to write about the
maiden voyage of the newest, safest ocean liner.
He drowned when it sank after hitting an iceberg. |
Author: Christopher T George
Monday, 12 February 2001 - 10:30 pm | |
Hi, Jeff:
What ocean liner would that be? The RMS Maybrick? 
Chris George |
Author: Diana
Tuesday, 13 February 2001 - 08:33 pm | |
| That would be the Titanic. I'm a Ripper freak. My college age daughter is a Titanic freak. |
Author: Christopher T George
Tuesday, 13 February 2001 - 09:19 pm | |
| The Teutonic!!! No wonder they caused a World War! |
Author: Jeff Bloomfield
Tuesday, 13 February 2001 - 10:34 pm | |
Dear Chris,
You got it. R.M.S. Maybrick. It was originally
to be called R.M.S. Bartlett or R.M.S.Bravo, but
(unluckily for the passengers) they decided
to rename it after a woman who went to prison,
not for one who was acquitted for poisoning her
husband. Maybe you heard the popular song about
the disaster.
"And the Rich refused to associate with the poor,
so they sent the poor below, where they wrote in
their diaries: "It was sad when the great ship
went down!"
Have a good night.
Jeff |
Author: Rosemary O'Ryan
Wednesday, 14 February 2001 - 08:50 pm | |
Dear Jeff,
Funniest story I've read in ages. Did an unsinkable ship really hit an iceberg!? (I'm still giggling even though I know I should'nt.)
Love,
Rosemary. |
Author: Jeff Bloomfield
Wednesday, 14 February 2001 - 10:11 pm | |
Well, it is funny in a sardonic way, but it was
quite a tragedy. Oddly enough, twenty years
earlier, Stead had written a fantasy essay about
the out of date Board of Trade rules regarding
lifeboat space, and Stead being on a ship sinking
under the bad conditions he outlines. Prescience?
Maybe. |
Author: Martin Fido
Wednesday, 21 February 2001 - 04:27 pm | |
SHIPPING ALERT: All icebegs are urgently warned to keep a careful lookout for US submarines surfacing while manned by crews who are enjoying the distraction of civilian visitors.
Martin Fido |
Author: Caroline Anne Morris
Thursday, 22 February 2001 - 05:51 am | |
Hi Martin,
I'll warn IceBegg straight away then, shall I, Cap'n Fido, sir? Might make him choke on his cuppa, though. :-)
Love,
Caz |
Author: Christopher T George
Thursday, 22 February 2001 - 09:58 am | |
Hi, Martin and Caz:
IceBegg sounds like a new rap artist. Now if we could only "wrap up" the Diary???
Chris |
Author: Caroline Anne Morris
Thursday, 22 February 2001 - 10:47 am | |
With vinegar and brown paper, Chris? 
Only a short while and it'll be cocktail hour here. Will you be joining me ce soir for a HW on the rocks?
Love,
Caz |
Author: Christopher T George
Thursday, 22 February 2001 - 01:12 pm | |
But of course, Caroline. I suspect tonight will be a big celebration. Being a Liverpool FC supporter I will be watching Liverpool play Roma live from Anfield in a couple of hours. The Reds are already leading 2-0 from the first leg a week ago, on two goals from Michael Owen, though I don't suspect the Italians, led by Argentinian Batistuta, will go down without a fight.
All the best
Chris |
